A 25-year-old model with a 42-inch bottom has been crowned Brazil’s new Miss Bum Bum. Dai Macedo, who represented the central state of Goias in the nationwide search for the woman with the most bodacious butt in all of Brazil, was chosen from among 15 finalists by the contest’s grand jury in Sao Paolo this week. “It’s a lot of work, a lot of devotion,” Macedo told Agence France-Presse by way of an interpreter. “I denied myself a lot of things. No nightclubs. No sweets. I went to the gym Saturdays and Sundays.” The sacrifice is well worth it. Miss Bum Bum…

The oldest animal ever known lived from 1499 until the day researchers cracked its shell open, killing it in the process. Ming, an ocean quahog from the species Arctica islandica, was initially thought to be a record-setting 402 years old. But the scientists who found it on a seabed near Iceland in 2006 now say further analysis has revealed that it was an incredible 507 years old, reports CBS. The researchers, who didn’t realize how old Ming was when they first found it, opened the ancient clam up to judge its age by counting growth rings inside its hinge ligaments. That’s…

BBC–Christianity is at risk of extinction in some parts of the world due to growing persecution of minority communities, a minister has warned. Baroness Warsi said Christians were in danger of being driven out of countries, such as Syria and Iraq, where the religion first took root. Syria’s civil war and the instability in Iraq has seen many leave. Baroness Warsi said politicians had a duty to speak out against persecution and appeal for religious tolerance. In a speech at Georgetown University in Washington DC, the foreign officer minister – who also has responsibility for faith communities – said one…

-China is to relax its policy of restricting most couples to have only a single child, state media say. In future, families will be allowed two children if one parent is an only child, says the Xinhua news agency. The one-child policy already exempts rural dwellers and ethnic minorities. The move comes after this week’s meeting of a key decision-making body of the governing Communist Party. Other reforms include the abolition of “re-education through labour” camps. Continue reading the main story Analysis Celia HattonBBC News, Beijing Though the scale of the Chinese leadership’s new social and economic reforms are vast,…